Halo 2 on the PC (but only if you have Vista)

flogen

Just when you thought MS couldn't be any cheeker, they do this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4698072.stm

Halo fans will have to upgrade their computer if they want to follow Master Chief's adventures on the PC.

Microsoft has announced that the PC version of Halo 2 will only work on the new version of Windows called Vista.

The decision could make it expensive for many to play the game if they have to buy the new version of Windows and extra hardware for their PC.

So, not only do you have to buy a game, you have to buy an OS with it... I wonder if they'll bundle the two

cnuts.

tba

I bet it would run under wine

eyerer

a laughable idea. though most people will end up on vista at some point anyway.
whats wine? (other than a drink)

tba

Its a windows emulator for linux

Matt Simis

eyerer wrote:

a laughable idea. though most people will end up on vista at some point anyway.
whats wine? (other than a drink)

Ill tell you what is not, Wine Is Not an Emulator.


Matt

tba

I hate recursive acronyms....

Retr0gamer

Sure the game is a load of me arse anyway.

tba

Oh yeah that slipped my mind in the midst of all the hate

Kiith

if they go through with this, then they'll finally be confirmed as a bunch of ****ers in my mind. especially since its a far inferior game, when compared to halflife2/far cry/f.e.a.r etc...

flogen

Kiith wrote:

if they go through with this, then they'll finally be confirmed as a bunch of ****ers in my mind. especially since its a far inferior game, when compared to halflife2/far cry/f.e.a.r etc...

Or even Halo 1 IMO. Frankly the game was saved by its online multiplayer, and that wasn't exactly superb when compared to PC iterations either.

steviec

I don't see whats remotely surprising about this, of course they're going to start making games exclusively for their new OS, after all you don't expect Halo 3 to come out on the original xbox do you?

Halo 2 is hardly a reason to go upgrading your OS for, it's not worth the price of the game in the first place, especially if its as bad as the PC conversion of Halo 1.

projectmayhem

Retr0gamer wrote:

Sure the game is a load of me arse anyway.

it's saving grace is MP though. which is the point of PC games

if you don't like the game then why does this bother you? it bothers me as much as half life2 64-bit version does. i.e. it doesn't, so there's no point moaning about microsoft trying to get vista on all the gaming PC's on earth if you don't even like the game

flogen

steviec wrote:

I don't see whats remotely surprising about this, of course they're going to start making games exclusively for their new OS, after all you don't expect Halo 3 to come out on the original xbox do you?

This seems pretty unusual though; I mean they basically ensure that their biggest upcoming PC game is tied to an OS that is still unreleased; most companies would have done their best to make sure as many users as possible could have had it; of course they wouldnt have been reaping the rewards of the OS sales.

I doubt it on its own will make too many people crossover to Vista, but I wouldn' t be surprised if this was the first of many such announcements to come.
I'll upgrade to Vista when I get a new PC, which I was planning on doing anyway, then again... I might go Mac

8T8

Same here didn’t think much of the Halo games and I'll upgrade to Vista when it comes out but not because of this.

My guess is they will update the graphics with resources taken from the obviously still under raps Halo 3 if they don’t it will be a laughing stock of a game compared to current PC games let alone a "flagship title" for Vista and what’s coming down the pipe with games like Crysis.

Even for those who want to play it without getting Vista I would not be surprised to see a hack come out (as a means of limiting the game to Vista if DX10 is only available on that platform) as MS cant make the game Direct-X 10 only as SM 4.0 compliant hardware isn’t even available and will only start to come out around the time Vista does so barely anyone will have those kinds of graphics cards so they will have to do a Direct-X 9 version (for what is a Direct-X 8 game) as well so most people will be able play the game under Vista.

tba

Yeah its not looking good.... god damn them.

I wonder how much they are going to charge.

Retr0gamer

projectmayhem wrote:

it's saving grace is MP though. which is the point of PC games

if you don't like the game then why does this bother you? it bothers me as much as half life2 64-bit version does. i.e. it doesn't, so there's no point moaning about microsoft trying to get vista on all the gaming PC's on earth if you don't even like the game

It doesn't bother me. Never said it did. My comment was one of indifference. As for MP, I'll stick to DOD:S.

Jimi-Spandex

Don't think I'll bother me arse with this. I played the first one on pc and thought it was exceptionally boring. I gave up after a couple of hours. The warthogs were fun though.

RotalicaV

I wonder will i be able to warez vista and halo in the same torrent..

Scruff

didnt even bother finishing the game on the xbox.....

thelordofcheese

flogen wrote:

Just when you thought MS couldn't be any cheeker, they do this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4698072.stm


So, not only do you have to buy a game, you have to buy an OS with it... I wonder if they'll bundle the two

cnuts.

ehh, thats making the grand assumption it'll be worth buying Halo2 PC in the first place.
Halo might work on the xbox but on the PC it's not really of much note, as people have pointed out FarCry, FEAR, HL2 et al outclass halo to the point where it's not even funny.

cregser

Scruff wrote:

didnt even bother finishing the game on the xbox.....

It doesn't really finish anyway. The master cheif is sitting in a space ship looking down on earth being invaded and says something like "I'm gonna kick some ass" and just as you pick up the controller, the credits roll!

flogen

thelordofcheese wrote:

ehh, thats making the grand assumption it'll be worth buying Halo2 PC in the first place.
Halo might work on the xbox but on the PC it's not really of much note, as people have pointed out FarCry, FEAR, HL2 et al outclass halo to the point where it's not even funny.

No it isn't, it's saying that if you want to get Halo 2 you'll need to get an OS with it; I said it was MS's big game, not the biggest game on PC.

steviec

I'm not sure it's even Microsoft's big game. Age of Empires, Flight Simulator, probably some others I'm not thinking of would outsell the PC version of Halo I imagine.

I still don't think it's an unreasonable decision by MS. They're perfectly within their rights to position their software to support their new OS. You'll have to have Vista if you want to subject yourself to the newest version of IE or Media Player, why would games be any different? It's just something we haven't really seen before because games barely exist on Apple and Linux, and Microsoft have only started making a name for themselves as a games company in recent times.

po0k

Apathy

projectmayhem

Retr0gamer wrote:

It doesn't bother me. Never said it did. My comment was one of indifference. As for MP, I'll stick to DOD:S.

good point. despite halo2's good MP, it doesn't compare to css, battlefield2 etc.

GrumPy

RotalicaV wrote:

I wonder will i be able to warez vista and halo in the same torrent..

lol, yeah neither are worth my hard earned cash tbh.

Lord Oz

I hope it won't be using cdkeys!

BlitzKrieg

taking in how much they charge for Vista and how cheap an original XBOX is now (due to the 360 launch) i dont see Halo 2 inticing anyone over to Vista.


Unless, they announce they will put a proper ending on it. Then Microsoft will be onto a winner.

mrblack

flogen wrote:

Or even Halo 1 IMO. Frankly the game was saved by its online multiplayer, and that wasn't exactly superb when compared to PC iterations either.

agreed Halo 1 was much better than Halo 2. All I wanted from Halo 2 was basically an unchanged Masterchief and a whole lot of the same enemies only a little smarter & faster the second time plus new locations. Instead we got a different game completely. I have only played it by myself and quit it after 2 months completely when I got stuck and eventually too pissed off with it to bother with it again. It didn't help my wife had a baby though & I had nappies to change. :eek:

Dooom

Tbh I'm looking forward to Vista. Albeit solely for that 3d alt-tabbing thing. Haven't read much on it, but saw a few screenies that had that in it.
Looked soo cool.

DonkeyStyle \o/

mrblack wrote:

All I wanted from Halo 2 was basically an unchanged Masterchief

Anyone else keep seeing that as MasterChef?
I'm goin' mad Ted.

December Son

by the time it comes out, halo 2 will be about 2 years old. Buying a new os to run a 2 year old game? Good job, MS :rolleyes:

GrumPy

BlitzKrieg wrote:

taking in how much they charge for Vista and how cheap an original XBOX is now (due to the 360 launch) i dont see Halo 2 inticing anyone over to Vista.


Unless, they announce they will put a proper ending on it. Then Microsoft will be onto a winner.

:rolleyes: There not going to put a "proper ending on it" the'll make halo3 for the 360, to continue the story, vista users arnt gonna get anything more then the xboxers got at the end, MC isnt gonna hop out the ship and own up some alien ass on earth. (like he SHOULD have done)

BlitzKrieg

you really are grumpy...

Ciaran500

I've a feeling this is more to do with moving over to Dx10 than enticing people to bu Vista.

projectmayhem

Ciaran500 wrote:

I've a feeling this is more to do with moving over to Dx10 than enticing people to bu Vista.

nah there'll be plenty of reasons to move over to dx10 in the next 2 years or so. and halo2 wont be one of them